Bean count

From MiddleWiki

This is a typical voting method in many areas for A&S Competition. The event's populace are given a bean (or other such small token) to drop into a covered cup or container of some sort to act as thier vote for the winning piece. After the competition closes the "beans" are counted and the entrant with the most votes wins. At the end of the day a special recognition by the administrator of the contest to one or more entries as well.

Bean counts are popular as they require less effort to organize than more formal competitions and allow all of the populace at the event to participate and are an excellent activity for a local group to have as part of an event or group function.

The downside of bean counts is that often the populace are not familiar with period artforms and more glamorous items may win over more authentic entries.